Eddie Schwartz - Public Life

Eddie Schwartz to me will always be the guy who just killed it, absolutely crushed it with "Special Girl" a song that still makes the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The band America also released a version of the song in 1984 and while it's musically a pretty close cover, the vocals don't get anywhere close to conveying the emotional gut punch Eddie delivers. Meat Loaf would also cover the song on his 1986 album Blind Before I Stop, and honestly it's not bad but again, seemed to miss the mark. This was also the album where Meat Loaf butchered Billy Rankin's "Burning Down" which was a weird cover that completely missed the point of the original.

I'm actually getting a bit ahead of myself, and while "Special Girl" is the song I most closely associate with Mr. Schwartz, it was part of an album that really deserved more recognition than it received. I do remember hearing "Strike" on the radio a couple of times. So let's spend a little time and give Public Life a spin and give you a taste of what you likely missed.

Right out of the gate Eddie delivers some great AOR with "Don't Come to Me" a really good song, and a really wicked guitar solo. While there are credits it's not clear who did the finger gymnastics. It was either Rick Derringer, or Peter Follett. I'm going to guess Rick, but there's a 50/50 chance I'm wrong, but what ever whoever did it was super tasteful. He follows this up with another solid song "Feed the Fire" after this "Special Girl" is up, and I'm still in awe of this song even after almost 40 years. The first side closes out with "Times Square Heart" and so far the score is 4 - 0.

The second side opens with "Not Tonight" which is a much slower song, at times almost plodding, but the payoff is the chorus, which still cracks me up:

Oh no no no no no
no not tonight

For whatever reason, when I hear this I immediately think of this as a kissing cousin to Toto's "I Think I Could Stand You Forever" from their criminally underrated Turn Back album from 1981. They sound nothing alike, but I can't help myself when I hear it.

"I've Had Enough" is a song I don't really remember it starts out slow and slowly builds and then dials it back again through the verses. It's a good song, albeit a tad long at almost five and a half minutes. Ah, here it is, "Strike" the song I first heard on the radio. It wasn't a big hit, but I heard it more than once, and thought it was pretty good. I liked the song structure, and the guitar solo here elevates the song, and I'm pretty darned sure that's Rick doing the elevating. The only reason I keep picking Rick instead of Peter is that I couldn't find much out there on Peter other than a credit on the first Helix album and one other I've now forgotten - whereas Mr. Derringer was the secret sauce on more songs that I can count on my fingers and toes. The album closes with an interesting mid-tempo "Passing Ships (The Ballad of Henry & Lucy)" which lyrically is a pretty weird song about a waiter and a dishwasher and I guess unrequited love or something. I'm note sure. The second side while still solid wasn't quite on par with the first side. I'd call it 2 - 2 which is a little harsh, but it is what it is.

It's too bad Eddie didn't hammer out two more songs to make it the standard ten as the album was well under forty minutes, but if this was the best of what he had, then this was it - I'd rather have the killer than filler.

Most of the songs on the album were written by Eddie Schwartz and David Tyson who also handled keyboards, bass, and backing vocals. Oh and he also played the glockenspiel, which added a layer of goodness to the album that was sorely missing. Tony Bongiovi from The Power Station produced the album along with Eddie and David, and he also mixed the album. Bob Ludwig mastered it. This was done by the best of the best.

It's a shame the album never caught on, as this is really very good. Public Life was Eddie's third album, and would be the last of his major label releases. Eventually Eddie would move on to just writing and producing other artists which was good for them, but to those of us who liked Eddie the artist, it was bad for us.

Eddie was named to The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019, and the write up seemed to only focus on "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" because Pat Benatar turned it into a big hit with - considering Eddie's version sounded more like something Andrew Gold would have done. Oh well, at least he got some recognition. To me one of the best covers was when Helix blew the doors off the barn with their version of "Does a Fool Ever Learn" now that is how you cover a song.

Thanks Eddie, there are still some of us who remember your brief public life (sorry, that was low even for me, but it is what it is).